Jens Hegeler is on standby to replace Bailey Wright in the event Bristol City’s most consistent defender fails to recover from the effects of jetlag in time to face Brentford at Griffin Park on Saturday.

An ever-present in head coach Lee Johnson’s starting line-up since his move from Championship rivals Preston North End in January, the 24-year-old centre-back is on his way back to the UK after jetting halfway around the world on international duty with Australia.

Not only did Wright play the full 90 minutes in both of Australia’s World Cup qualifiers against Iraq and United Arab Emirates, he also flew a total of 36,000 miles on a journey that took him from Birmingham to Sydney via Tehran and back again.

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Johnson is anxiously awaiting the return of Wright and is keeping his fingers crossed that he will have recovered sufficiently from his exertions to be available for selection to face the Bees in the capital.

But it the event Wright is not considered fit enough to start, former German international Hegeler is ready to deputise. Signed from Hertha Berlin in January the 28-year-old is equally at home in the centre of midfield or defence.

Bailey Wright of Bristol City in action against Burton Albion (Image: Rogan Thomson/JMP)

In Wright’s absence, Hegeler has been playing as a centre-back in behind-closed-doors eleven-a-side workouts at City’s Failand training headquarters this week.

Johnson confirmed: “Jens can play there is we need him to and we’ve been working on that possibility in training this week.

“But we will assess Bailey Wright before making a final decision. He’s travelled a crazy number of miles and played two games and we just need to see how he is.

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“Australia do teir best to look after players in his situation and he will be flying first class from Sydney, so should be able to get a good sleep. He will then be driven back to Bristol from Birmingham Airport.

“He wanted to come in for training om Thursday, but I told him to have the day off instead. We will see him on Friday to work on the important tactical stuff before the game.”